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Subject: Re: Macintosh Chess Programs

Author: Richard A. Fowell (fowell@netcom.com)

Date: 15:29:33 07/26/98

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On July 25, 1998 at 18:45:53, Mark Gaddis wrote:

>I recently purchased HIARCS 6.0 for my PowerPC Mac.  In the users manual, it
>states that the EPD format allows multiple positions to be saved to one file.
>But I have not been able to do this.  Whenever I try to export to the same file
>name, the old file is overwritten with the new one.  Does anyone know how to do
>this?

No - doesn't seem to work for me, either.

Probably one of those things different between the PC version and
the Mac version. If I'd noticed this during beta testing, I might
have been able to get it fixed.

Export PGN does seem to append, but Export EPD overwrites, as you state.

>There are some sample EPD files included on the CD.  Is there a way to select
>individual positions for display.  Selecting "Analyze EPD" causes the computer
>to go through the positions sequentially without stopping.

I've only seen one EPD viewer for the Mac, and I can't find it at the moment.
I've looked on my hard drive, three backup disks, and AOL. No luck.

Absent that, the best I can think of is to cut and paste individual EPD lines
into MacChess 4.0 (If the chessboard is the foremost window, MacChess takes
a "paste" command as an attempt to paste a .EPD position).

>Does anyone know why the Mac version has a fixed hash table size?

No - I complained to them about this when I beta tested it.
They've said that the next version (HIARCS 7 MAC) will have
adjustable hash tables (like many, many other Mac chess programs).
However, HIARCS 7 Mac will follow HIARCS 7 PC, at best, so don't hold
your breath.

>Is there a way to increase the memory allocation for this table?

Not according to the chap who programmed the Mac version.

>Does anyone have experience with Sigma Chess 4.0?

Yes. The main differences from the Lite version are spelled out in
the Sigma Chess Lite web site at:
http://users.cybercity.dk/~bst10651/

Of course, if you downloaded it from there, you probably know that.
The added features are mainly high-end capabilities like being able
to edit the opening book, additional endgame tablebase generators, etc.

> I have the Lite version of this software and it looks pretty good
> although it is not PPC native code?

It is pretty good, although not PPC native code.
Sigma Chess's author says:
"I have played a 20 game blitz match between
Sigma Chess 4.0 and MacChess 4.0 PPC on my 132 MHz PowerMac 7600.
Sigma won 11 - 9."
Note that this result is too close to conclude that Sigma Chess is
the better program, statistically speaking, but it is pretty strong.
Not in the league of HIARCS, though.



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